1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a method and a device for the billing of services and especially of Internet services used by a mobile telephony station in a cellular packet radiocommunication network.
2. Description of the Related Art
This invention applies to GPRS (General Packet Radio Services) cellular communication networks, EDGE (Enhanced Data rate for GSM Evolution), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telephone Standard), CDMA 95 and 2000 (Code Division Multiple Access), WCDMA (Wideband CDMA), 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Program—European version), 3GPP2 (North American model of 3GPP), or other.
In cellular radiocommunication systems such as GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), the voice signals and data use the same transmission path: the infrastructure which is quite suitable for the voice signals is not fast enough for data transmission. The cellular packet radiocommunication networks were therefore introduced to process data.
However, a problem arises in the cellular packet radiocommunication networks when the content and volume of the data transmitted must be measured.
The rates applied to the various services, and especially the Internet services, depend on the provider, the user, various reductions or special offers available, the period during which the service is requested (peak/off peak period). In addition, the rates are likely to change at any time, depending on the market situation.
Also, the volume and the content of the data transmitted must be billed to the user customer. Unlike the GSM type switching networks, in which the measurement is carried out on the basis of the time elapsed during a connection between two points, packet switching involves direct measurement of the volume of data transmitted, i.e. more precisely the number of packets transmitted. Moreover, the packets must be allocated to a given origin, bearing in mind that several transmitters may be active simultaneously.
Consequently, billing in a packet network involves measuring instantaneously and at each connection interface of the telephony network to the Internet, the flow transmitted or received, consolidating it and evaluating it according to complex rules as seen above at a single point called a collection unit from which the bill is issued.
In case of deferred billing, although complex and heavy, billing is nevertheless feasible since the collection unit has several days or hours to make out the bill. However, when the billing procedure is carried out in real time, a much more expensive infrastructure is required.
In this context, one objective of this invention is to propose a method and a simple, low-cost device for real time billing of the services required by receiving means from transmitting means in a cellular packet radiocommunication type network, Internet or other.
One objective of this invention is to propose a method and a simple, low-cost device for real time billing of the services required by a mobile radiotelephony station in a cellular packet radiocommunication type network.